Love in a Bar
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: Kallus, a special agent, can't seem to hold down a steady relationship. His supervisor, Captain Thrawn, starts meddling in his personal life and as a bet gets him to go to a bar to "loosen up" and enjoy himself. Kallus is initially resistant until he meets a handsome ex-military man named Zeb who he finds he has a surprising amount in common with. (Kallus/Zeb; Kalluzeb; Modern AU)
1. Chapter 1

"Agent, are you still working?"

Agent Alexsandr Kallus looks up from his computer where he'd been finishing typing up the notes to the case he'd just closed to see his supervisor and department head, Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo (a name the captain allowed to be shortened to "Thrawn" for those who had difficulty pronouncing it in full), standing over him, his jacket on and clearly on is way out of building for the night.

"Yes sir," Alex answers, trying to gauge the expression on his superior's face. While most of his supervisors in the past had always applauded his dedication to his work and willingness to stay after hours, when Captain Thrawn had been transferred to this division there had been a distinct change in the way that things worked. Thrawn's philosophy seemed to be that his agents worked best when they were happy and healthy and he was more than a little forceful when it came to ensuring that they all left work on time, got appropriate amounts of rest, and proved time and again that his office open door policy wasn't just words-there were many times that Alex had heard his coworkers talking about how the captain had sincerely listened to and provided solutions for any problems that they were having in the workplace and sometimes even in their own personal lives.

Alex could respect and even on some level appreciate Thrawn's innovative workplace policies, and he couldn't deny the results-the department had never functioned so well. However, Alex was a man of habit and didn't like to change things that had already proved effective. For years he had been the top agent here-not one of his peers came close to closing as many cases as he had-and he didn't feel the need to avail himself of Thrawn's new policies. This unfortunately led to some butting of heads between them. Thrawn was continually reminding Alex (with less and less patience as the days stretched into months) to take breaks and to leave work that couldn't be done by the end of the day for the next morning. Alex, in turn, responded, as politely as he was able to, that the results of his work spoke for themselves and he wasn't about to change things and risk losing his current level of productivity.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just work related matters. But Thrawn, for reasons beyond Alex's understanding, had seemed to have taken a special interest in his personal life as well. It wasn't enough that Alex felt he could or even needed to report it to Thrawn's superior. But somehow Thrawn just had a way of starting out with a polite casual conversation over coffee and leaving with more information about Alex than most of the men he had been working with for over ten years knew about him. It was a bit unnerving, to put it lightly.

On the other hand, Alex did have to begrudgingly admit that it was nice to have met an unexpected ally. Alex still had no idea how exactly Thrawn had managed to get his romantic and sexual orientation (something the agent usually kept so close to his chest) out of him. But when Thrawn had actually smiled a rare genuine smile at him and started casually discussing how he had met his own husband, Eli, Alex had known that he wasn't in danger of losing his job over his preference for men. As it was, Alex sometimes had the feeling that Thrawn was perhaps a bit too interested in trying to play matchmaker for him since he was currently single. It wasn't anything specific, like trying to set him up with a fellow coworker or someone outside of work. It was just in little things-like now, for instance.

"It is a Friday night, Agent Kallus-don't you have any plans that you need to attend to?" Thrawn asks with the faintest traces of a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"No, but thank you for your concern," Alex answers dryly. "And, even if I did, finishing these reports come as a priority over anything happening in my personal life."

"Kallus." Thrawn gives him a firm look and then puts an arm over the keyboard to block him from continuing typing. "You know how I feel about you working after hours and exhausting yourself. You're going to work yourself to the bone one of these days and I'll lose one of the best agents I've seen since I graduated from the academy myself."

Alex was about to protest, but Thrawn cuts himself off.

"I've been letting this slide for a while now, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to put my foot down," the older man says, his lips forming a thin line. "I'm getting ready to leave myself, and I'm going to have to ask you to save the rest of those reports for Monday."

"Yes, sir." Something in Thrawn's tone told Alex that he wasn't in the mood for an argument and so, reluctantly, the agent saves his work before shutting down his computer. Maybe he could get up and go get coffee and then, once he'd made sure Thrawn was safely gone, he could sneak back in to get a little bit more work done-it wasn't like he had anything to do tonight besides sit around at home watching Netflix and maybe trying out a new recipe.

"I'll walk you out to your car," Thrawn says, gesturing to the door.

Damn. Alex tries not to wince noticeably as he walks out into the hallway and his supervisor locks the door behind them. Thrawn apparently knew him far too well and had anticipated what he'd been planning to do. Well, that squashed any plans that Alex had of continuing on with work. Netflix and cooking it was, then. On the upside, at least leaving on time for once meant that he actually had time to go to the store to get ingredients…

Alex only half listened as Thrawn escorts him out of the precinct and to his car, just nodding and mumbling out some sort of response whenever it seemed appropriate. It sounded like the older man was talking about his plans with his husband for the evening, but Alex wasn't particularly interested in whatever Thrawn had to say when he was still not in the best of moods with him for making him stop working and leaving him with a massive pileup for Monday.

It wasn't until he felt Thrawn pushing what turned out to be a small business card into his hands that he stopped stewing long enough to find out what was going on.

"This has the address on it and directions should you need them," Thrawn was saying.

"Address? Directions?" Alex repeats-maybe he should have been paying more attention to the conversation, one sided as it had been.

"To the bar," Thrawn answers calmly. "I'm glad that you agreed to give it a try. I do think it will do you good to get out and have some fun on a Friday night for once."

Wait, a bar? What exactly had Alex gotten himself into?

"But I didn't- I wouldn't- I don't even drink!" Alex starts to protest, but Thrawn shakes his head, a slight smile making its way onto his face.

"I think you'll find it a very enjoyable experience, even if you don't drink," Thrawn responds. "Consider this your assignment for the weekend, if you will. Go to the bar tonight and at least make an effort to enjoy yourself. On Monday you can come to my office with picture evidence that you actually went-and by picture evidence I mean pictures of you inside the bar, not pictures that you could just get from online-and give me a report on your experience. If you enjoy yourself, then we both benefit-you because you had an enjoyable time, me because hopefully you'll finally understand what I've been trying to tell you all this time. If you don't, then I won't make any more comments about you working late in future. Does that sound like a fair deal to you?"

Alex bites his lip-as much as he didn't want to go to a bar in the first place, the offer to finally have supervisor get off of his back about the way he did his work was incredibly tempting.

"You wouldn't say anything else about me working late ever again?" Alex asks, just to make sure that he was hearing this clearly.

"I promise on my honor," Thrawn answers.

"...In that case, I accept your offer," Alex says, offering his hand to Thrawn, who shakes it, looking pleased.

"Wonderful. As I said, everything that you need to find the bar is on that card. It is fairly casual so I would recommend changing out of your work clothes before going," Thrawn tells him, a hint of amusement making its way into his voice.

Alex just nods in response to that. He didn't exactly like Thrawn telling him how to dress, but stopping by home would give him the opportunity to pick up the book he'd ordered months ago that was still sitting untouched on his nightstand (he kept meaning to read it but by the time he got home most nights it was all he could do to eat a brief dinner before passing out in his bed-if he even made it that far, many nights he ended up on the couch-before getting up in the morning to shower and head back to work.) If nothing else he could just sit in the bar for a few hours, hopefully avoid any human contact, and then head back to his apartment to enjoy the rest of his evening in peace and quiet.

"I look forward to seeing you on Monday, Alexsandr," Thrawn says with a smile that looked far too smug for Alex's liking. Still, Alex manages to keep his composure, forcing out a polite farewell before getting into his car, keeping his furious diatribe to himself until he was out on the main road and far enough away that Thrawn wouldn't see him cursing his stupid, self-assured face.

As it turned out, the bar that Thrawn had sent him too wasn't bad, as bars went (not that Alex made a habit of visiting bars, but he had seen a few back in his academy days, mostly when he had been talked into being designated driver for a group of classmates.) Alex had certainly had his concerns when he'd pulled up outside and seen the large, flashing neon rainbow flag in the front window-as much as he appreciated the fact that Thrawn had taken his orientation into account when picking out a venue, he had to question if he'd been sent to an actual bar or a nightclub which would be completely out of his comfort zone. (How was he supposed to be able to quietly enjoy his book if there was blaring music and strobing lights everywhere?)

When he walked inside, however, he was relieved to find that the only music playing was of a completely reasonable noise level, and all of the lights were of the normal variety. The bar was mildly crowded, as was to be expected on a Friday night, but even the slightly rowdier conversations that he could hear didn't seem like they'd be too difficult to tune out. Yes, this just might not be so bad after all.

Alex had just ordered a plain coke and was sitting down at a small table in a darkened corner to enjoy both the drink and his book when he saw him. Alex hadn't noticed the other man while he'd been ordering-at the time, the stranger had been surrounded by a group of three other men (all of whom looked very similar to each other-triplets, perhaps?) But just as Alex had sat down, the others moved away and now he had a perfectly good view of a man who, in spite of his attempts to tell himself that he wasn't planning on getting involved in anything or with anyone tonight, he couldn't help but notice was very, _very_ attractive, even if not in a way that Alex usually would have considered attractive.

To date Alex's relationships had been short and mostly kept on a very professional basis. He dated men who were a lot like himself-responsible, punctual, clean-cut, and usually as career driven as he was (which, in hindsight, had probably been the downfall of most of those relationships.)

The man he found himself staring at now did not, in any way, fit the mold of the types of men he usually dated. For one thing, both the hair on the top of the stranger's head and on his face were ridiculously scruffy-it looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and hadn't even taken a glance at himself in the mirror. The same went for his clothes: his entire outfit consisted of a tank top and a pair of jeans that could politely be called "well worn". And, as for the very noticeable stipe-like tattoos on both his arms, Alex was pretty sure that none of the men he'd dated in the past had had a tattoo, even in more discreet locations.

This man was as far removed from everything that Alex had ever looked for in a partner as possible and yet… And yet somehow tonight all of that was making Alex feel incredibly drawn to him. Or maybe it was the fact that, for possibly the first time in his life since he'd finally stopped growing, he'd actually found a man who was taller than him.

At six foot four inches, Alex was usually one of the tallest if not the tallest person in any room he was in, and he'd grown fairly accustomed to it. However, even at this distance Alex could tell that this man who had caught his attention was at least a few inches taller than him. Beyond that, he was incredibly well built-not overly muscled like a bodybuilder, but Alex had a feeling that he could easily pick him up and throw him down onto a bed if he wanted to, something which was _absolutely_ not turning him on…

Alex was just about to bury himself in his book, his cheeks burning-how could he be having fantasies about a total stranger?-when suddenly, with absolutely no prompting, the other man looks over at him and makes eye contact. Alex has to bite back a very unmanly squeak of surprise and shame. Had he been caught staring? But if the stranger had noticed him staring and minded at all, he certainly didn't show it. If anything, after giving Alex what was unmistakably a very interested looking once-over, a smile makes its way onto the stranger's face and he stands up, slowly starting to make his way across the bar towards Alex.

 _Damn it, damn it, damn it!_ Alex wondered if it was too late to quickly bury himself in his book and hope that the stranger would see that he was busy and leave him alone. Only, he wasn't entirely sure that he _wanted_ the stranger to leave him alone, and before he could fully make up his mind the other man had reached his table.

"Is it alright if I sit here?"

Alex was a bit caught off guard-and no, not at all even _more_ turned on-by the soft accent (Australian, or New Zealand, maybe?) in the other man's slightly gravelly voice. It takes a minute for him to be able to form an answer, and when he does it comes out much more breathless than he'd have liked. "A-Absolutely."

Shit. That had sounded far too eager, hadn't it? Still, if it had, the other man didn't seem to mind, just smiling as he sits down in the chair across from him and extending a hand to him.

"I'm Garazeb-Zeb to my friends," the stranger says with a warm smile.

"Kallus," Alex answers automatically, shaking the offered hand, before grimacing and saying, "No, sorry, force of habit. What I meant to say was my name is Alexsandr. I suppose Alex to my friends if I actually had any." Wait, why had he said that?

"It's all right," Zeb answers with a small chuckle. "Easy thing to get mixed up. Took me a bit to get used to using my first name again when I was back in civilian life."

"You were in the service?" Alex asks, glad to grasp onto a talking point that he could hopefully hold a half decent conversation about.

"Yep," Zeb answers, seeming to sense his interest. "Served ten years in the marines. You?"

"I barely made it out of basic training," Alex answers, shaking his head, realizing that maybe this actually hadn't been the best topic to go with..

"Found out that wasn't for you?" Zeb asks gently. "It's not for everyone, and there's no shame in that."

"No, it's not quite as simple as that," Alex answers, his hand under the table automatically starting to fidget with the fabric of his right trouser leg. "I… It was my first time out in the field. I was with my platoon-it was just supposed to be a routine patrol. But then… We were ambushed. Somehow or other I was knocked out, and by the time I woke up, everyone… They were all..."

"Karabast," Zeb whispers, his eyes going wide. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea…!"

"It's all right," Alex answers-Zeb hadn't known, and while it was still painful to talk about, it wasn't as painful as it had been when it first happened. Still, not wanting the conversation to take on an entirely negative tone, he continues, "I was honorably discharged because of a leg injury, and I came back here to start over. I still wanted to try to do something with my life to try to help other people. At first I considered working as a police officer but I wasn't sure they'd take me because of my bum leg. Eventually I decided to try pursuing being a special agent since that had always interested me. I went through the process to become one, found a job, and that's what I've been doing ever since."

Alex has to pause a moment to breathe-he hadn't intended to say that much all at once-and Zeb takes the opportunity to fill the silence.

"That is absolutely incredible," Zeb says softly. "You went through all of that and you're still out there helping other people every day?"

"I have to work some sort of job to support myself, don't I?" Alex answers with a shrug, although he was secretly pleased by the praise.

"I suppose so-doesn't make it any less amazing," Zeb responds with a small grin.

"So, what do you do now that you're retired?" Alex asks quickly, hoping to distract Zeb so he wouldn't notice just how much he was starting to blush.

"I work for an outreach program for veterans," Zeb answers. "It's based out of here but they have a couple branches throughout the country. It's called New Hope-maybe you've heard of it?"

"It sounds familiar," Alex answers slowly-the name did ring a bell, but he couldn't know for sure.

"It's still fairly new, I'm not surprised," Zeb says with a smile. "We're working on trying to get more out in the public eye to raise awareness."

"Do you enjoy working there?" Alex asks curiously.

"I do, actually," Zeb answers. "It feels good helping other people who've been through hell and back, and I've made some pretty good friends working there. Like my friend Hera-she was in the air force until she got shot down. Poor kid-they saved her life but a piece of shrapnel got embedded in her. Even though they pulled it out, that was the end of her dreams of having biological kids-at least in the usual way."

"That's terrible," Alex says softly, unable to imagine what that sort of loss must have been like.

"It is," Zeb agrees, shaking his head. "Still, she's one of the strongest people I've ever met, and her husband is a good, steady man who stood by her through everything. They ended up deciding to try the adoption route to start their family, and they've got two kids now, Sabine and Ezra." He shakes his head again, but it was with more fondness this time. "They can be little balls of terror at times, but that's the case with most little 'uns, let alone ones who've been through what they've been through. Most of the time you couldn't ask for sweeter kids, and Hera and Kanan love them like they're blood family."

"That's wonderful." Alex smiles, thinking how amazing these people must be if they could take their own tragic loss and turn it into an opportunity to open their home to children who didn't have one.

"I think I've got a couple pictures of them on here if you'd like to see 'em," Zeb offers, starting to pull out his phone.

"I'd love to!" As much as Alex tried to keep most people from finding out what a soft spot he had for kids, he would never turn down the opportunity to see pictures of someone's kids or nieces or nephews if they offered first.

"Here they are," Zeb says with a warm smile as he hands Alex the phone. "The one on the left's Ezra, and the one on the right's Sabine."

Alex couldn't help but feel his heart melt as he looks down at the two children in the picture. Sabine appeared to be the older of the two just based on height, the bright streaks of color in her hair and her paint splattered clothes seeming to indicate that she was already an artist in the making. Ezra, on the other hand, was a bit startling to look at at first, with dark hair that was almost blue and eyes bluer than Alex had ever seen outside of a movie or magazine.

"Is his hair naturally that color?" Alex finds himself asking in spite of himself.

"It's been that way since Kanan found him," Zeb answers with a slight smile. "We don't know much about his past before Kanan discovered him hiding in an abandoned building while out on patrol one night, so it could have been a different before then. Poor kid was scared to death-not much more than skin and bone-and we've never really gotten him to talk about what happened in his life before that night. Then again, he was only four at the time, best as the doctors can tell, so he was too young to have a lot of memories of life back then. Whatever happened to his parents is a mystery at this point-not that we haven't tried to find them for his sake, but they've disappeared without a trace. Part of me hopes that nothing too terrible happened to them, but on the other hand I almost hope that they didn't have a choice to leave him because if they were the type of people to abandon a sweet little kid like that…"

"The important thing is he's in a safe place now," Alex puts in firmly, seeing how agitated Zeb was starting to look and hoping to calm him.

"Yeah, you're right," Zeb agrees, his shoulders sinking and visibly calming. "I don't think any kid could ask for better parents than Hera and Kanan, they absolutely adore their little 'uns."

Alex found himself smiling at that and was just trying to think of the right response when suddenly one of the men that Zeb had been with earlier comes up and puts and hand on Zeb's shoulder.

"Zeb, I'm glad you're having a good time over here, but you know we promised Hera we wouldn't stay out too late," the man says. "She'll skin us alive if we're not over there bright and early to help set up for the barbecue."

"Right," Zeb sighs, shaking his head before flashing Alex an apologetic grin. "Sorry to do this to you, but Rex is right-Hera's a right drill sergeant when she wants to be and I'll be a dead man if I'm not at the house at eight on the dot."

"Oh, of course," Alex answers, trying not to show his disappointment too much. "I completely understand-prior commitments come first."

"Is there-any chance that I could get your number?" Zeb asks, actually looking a bit hesitant. "Only if you want to give it to me, of course!" he quickly adds. "I just thought maybe… If you're ever free and would like to do this again…"

"I'd love to," Alex answers, biting back a grin as he quickly-and hopefully not too eagerly-types his number into Zeb's phone.

"Why don't you invite your new friend to the barbecue tomorrow?" Rex asks, glancing between Zeb and Alex with a knowing smile on his face.

"Would you like to come?" Zeb asks Alex hopefully.

"I-I'd love to, but I'd hate to impose," Alex quickly answers.

"You wouldn't be imposing on anyone," Rex tells him firmly. "We always make way too much food, and besides, there's always room for one more at our table."

"Well… In that case, I accept," Alex answers, trying to fight down the surprisingly giddy feeling in the pit of his stomach at the idea of seeing Zeb again.

"Great!" Zeb grins at him. "I can text you the address-or I can come pick you up and give you a ride if you want?"

"If you can text me the address I shouldn't have any problem finding it," Alex reassures him. As nice as Zeb appeared to be, in his line of work he'd learned early on that it wasn't a good idea to get into someone's car and go with them to an unknown location until you'd actually gotten to know them a little bit better.

"I'll send it right now," Zeb answers, quickly typing up a text and sending it to Alex, whose phone almost immediately chimes to signify that it had received the text.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Zeb says as Rex starts to not-so-gently tug him towards the door.

"Tomorrow," Alex agrees, a bit surprised but not at all displeased to find that he was already counting down the seconds until he could see Zeb again.


	2. Chapter 2

Alex looks at himself in the mirror, surveying his appearance critically. He had no idea how formal or casual the barbecue that Zeb had invited him to was going to be, a problem that had confronted him when he'd started getting dressed this morning. He had a feeling that it would lean more towards casual than formal, but Alex's clothes mostly consisted of the professional ones that he used for work and a few pairs of sweatpants and old t-shirts that he kept for working out in the privacy of his own home or for when he was feeling particularly lazy on the weekend and wasn't planning on going out anywhere. Neither of those options seemed particularly appropriate, and after ransacking almost his entire closet he'd finally settled on a powder blue button up and a light colored pair of slacks, hoping that he wouldn't look terribly overdressed.

In spite of all the time he'd spent in his quandary over his wardrobe, by the time that he was fully dressed Alex realized he still had a good half an hour before he could leave and show up at a respectable time (he didn't want to arrive too early and be a bother) and so he finds himself distractedly glancing at the news on his phone. His heart wasn't really in it, though. In spite of his best efforts, he just couldn't concentrate-not when his heart kept threatening to leap right out of his chest at the idea of getting to see Zeb again. Alex wasn't a stranger to attraction, but this time it felt… Different, somehow. He knew it was ridiculous to think that he could feel seriously about someone he'd met the night before, and yet, although his logical side was doing its best to drown out the small part of him that was still a romantic, he couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe, this might be something that would last more than just a few dates. All the same, he was very relieved when it was time to leave so he could distract himself from the possibly dangerous thoughts and feelings that were fighting to overtake him.

Alex pulls up into the neighborhood that Zeb's directions had led him to about twenty minutes later. It definitely wasn't an upscale neighborhood like some of the newer developments that he drove past on his way to work every day, but it had its own sort of charm. The trees lining the street were tall enough to provide ample shade, even on a hot summer day, and he liked the way that most of the houses looked like they had some sort of history and character to them.

After another five minutes or so of driving, Alex pulls up to a large house at the end of the street. It was the sort of grey that might have been white once but had faded with time and exposure to the elements. As he steps out of his car, he sees that the grass was slightly overgrown, and the front porch was a mess of muddy shoes, bikes, and toys, but it had a very lived-in and homey feeling. He only vaguely remembered reading the Harry Potter series in his younger days, but somehow this house conjured up an image of exactly how he had always imagined the Burrow.

Making his way past the many cars packed into the driveway, he had to wonder just how many people were attending this party. He could hear music and voices coming from the back of the house already, and he could only hope that this wouldn't turn out to be too wild of a gathering. He pauses for a moment in front of the door to calm himself and straighten out any of his clothes that had been rumpled in the ride over and then, taking a deep breath, he knocks on the door.

Almost instantly, a dog starts barking in response to the sound, and Alex tenses-he'd never been much of a dog person (he much preferred cats which were for the most part much quieter and less needy) and from the sound of the barking he was pretty sure there was a fairly large dog on the other side of the door. The barking stops abruptly as Alex hears some sort of a struggle taking place inside the house, a female voice calling out, "Hold on just a minute!" before shouting, "Bad Chopper! Go to your kennel, you know better than to bark when someone knocks on the door!"

A short while later, the door finally opens up to reveal a tall woman with olive colored skin, dark hair that was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and bright green eyes. A surprised, if slightly confused look crosses her face as she looks up at Alex, but her tone was still polite as she inquires, "Can I help you?"

"Um, yes, I believe I'm at the right house," Alex answers-he hadn't anticipated a stranger answering the door and he could only hope that he hadn't read the directions wrong. "My name is Alexsandr Kallus. I was invited by Zeb, I believe he's a friend of yours…?"

"Oh, of course!" Understanding dawns on the woman's face and a warm smile crosses her face. "He told us that you might be coming! Please, come in." She opens the door wider and steps back so that Alex can step inside, and he gratefully does so, glad to find that he was in the right place after all.

The inside of the house was much like the outside-there were toys and other belongings strewn about on almost every surface. It looked like someone had tried to make some order of the mess but had finally succumbed to the inevitable chaos that came from having small children in the home.

"I'm Hera," the woman who had answered the door introduces herself, startling Alex out of his thoughts as she closes the door behind him. "Hera Jarrus."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Alex answers, shaking the hand that was offered to him.

Hera looked like she was about to say something more when suddenly a large German Shepherd comes bounding into the entryway. It took one look up at Alex and then suddenly stands up on its hind legs, putting its paws on the man's shoulders and eagerly licking his face.

"Chopper, no!" Hera cries, grabbing the dog's collar and pulling it away, apologizing to Alex, "I'm so sorry, I locked him up but he's a retired bomb sniffing dog and so far he's managed to figure out how to get out of every kennel we've put him in!"

"I-It's all right," Alex answers, still slightly stunned by what had just happened and trying to regain his composure.

"I am surprised he reacted like he did-usually he doesn't take to strangers very well, which is why we usually kennel him if we have guests over," Hera says with a thoughtful frown. "I guess he must sense something he likes in you."

"Thank you, I think?" Alex wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

"Go on ahead and head out back while I try to get this troublemaker out of the way," Hera says with a wry smile, gesturing to the sliding back door. "Last time I saw Zeb he was out there helping Kanan with the grill."

"Thank you," Alex says, much more sincerely this time. He walks out the indicated door, hoping that he would finally be able to find Zeb out here. It didn't take long to spot him standing by the grills with another man, apparently hard at work preparing the food.

"Hello, Zeb," Alex calls to catch his attention as he gets a little closer.

Zeb glances up, looking momentarily confused, before breaking out into a wide grin as he sees Alex walking towards him.

"Alex!" he cries, abandoning his post to race over to him. He stops just short of meeting him halfway, seeming for a moment to be unsure of what to do with his arms, instinctively reaching out at first as if to hug him but then seeming to decide against it at the last moment, finally settling on just putting one massive hand on Alex's shoulder.

"I wasn't sure you were going to come," he says softly, almost hesitantly.

"I told you that I was going to come, didn't I?" Alex answers with a smile. "I don't make a habit of making promises that I don't intend to keep."

"Well, I'm glad that you came all the same," Zeb replies, his smile back full force as he lightly squeezes Alex's shoulder before removing his hand and saying, "Let me introduce you around to everyone. I'm assuming you met Hera on your way in?"

"I did," Alex confirms with a smile. "She was charming. Chopper a bit less so, although apparently he finds me perfectly acceptable?"

"Really?" Zeb flashes him a look of surprise. "That little troublemaker? He doesn't like anyone except maybe Hera!"

"Well, according to Hera he likes me," Alex answers, gesturing to the faint imprint of a muddy paw print on his shoulder.

"Karabast," Zeb laughs, shaking his head. "You must really be something special if even Chopper likes you!"

"I wouldn't say that," Alex mumbles, although it was nice to hear Zeb say it, as silly as it might be to think that someone could judge his character by how a dog acted around him.

"So, you've met Hera and Chopper," Zeb says, gently steering Alex towards the grill. "Next person you should probably meet is Hera's husband, Kanan."

"All right," Alex answers, allowing Zeb to take the lead. As they draw closer to the man Zeb had pointed out to him, he had the odd feeling that he'd met him somewhere before but he couldn't quite place where…

"Kanan, this is Alexander Kallus," Zeb says, loudly enough to catch the man attending the grill's attention. "Alex, this is my good friend Kanan Jarrus."

Wait, Jarrus? That definitely struck a familiar note, but Alex still couldn't place quite why…

It was as the other man looked up at him and their eyes meet that he finally realizes where he'd met him before, and it was clear that Kanan remembered him just as clearly.

"Zeb, when you told me that you were inviting a friend you didn't tell me that you were inviting a Northsider," Kanan drawls, a playful smirk on his face.

"You're one to talk-how do I know that this wasn't all a setup for one of your pranks, Southsider?" Alex tosses back, jokingly glaring back at him.

"Do you two know each other?" Zeb asks, looking back and forth between them in confusion.

"We do," Kanan confirms, a real smile crossing his face. "Agent Kallus works at the North Precinct, and I'm at the South. We've worked together on a few cases."

"All right, that makes sense, but what's all this about pranks?" Zeb asks, still seeming lost.

"There's a bit of a rivalry between our precincts," Alex explains. "The South tends to be a bit lax about rules and regulations-"

"While the North treats rules and regulations like they're some sort of religion," Kanan continues with a wry smile.

"And the Southsiders take any chance to embarrass those of us from the North," Alex deadpans.

"It's all in good fun," Kanan says with a smile and a shrug.

"Good fun? I wouldn't call the time that you all toilet papered our office 'good fun'!" Alex protests. "It took us hours to clean up!"

"Only after you guys put perfume sprayers in all the rooms in our office!" Kanan shoots back. "It took us a week to get the smell out!"

"Those were scented oil diffusers, it was a gesture of goodwill and a way to get rid of the ghastly stench that your building usually has!" Alex cries.

"All right, all right, I get the picture!" Zeb puts his hands up in mock surrender. "I didn't realize that this was going to be a problem or I wouldn't have asked Alex to come here today…"

"Problem? It's not a problem! Just because we're rivals at work doesn't mean that we can't be friends outside of work, does it?" Kanan answers, smiling over at Alex.

"Quite," Alex agrees, realizing that maybe he'd taken things a bit too far for Zeb. He had no personal qualms with Kanan outside of the fact that he seemed to be the one to spearhead most of the practical jokes between the two offices-it wasn't anything personal (or at least he hoped it wasn't.) On the cases that they'd worked on together, Kanan had always proved to be a sensible, hard working man, even if some of his methods were a bit had never really considered the possibility of getting to know him as anything more than a colleague (he usually tried to keep his work and personal life as far apart as possible) but he certainly wasn't against it.

"Well… All right then." Zeb doesn't look fully convinced, but he does seem to relax as Kanan shakes Alex's hand, offering him a sincere welcome before returning his focus to the grills.

"So that's most of the family," Zeb says as he leads Alex back out into the main part of the backyard. "Now that just leaves-"

"Uncle Zeb, Uncle Zeb!"

"Ah, there's the little rascals." Zeb grins as two children come racing across the yard towards him.

"How are my favorite niece and nephew?" Zeb asks as he crouches down to their level, first ruffling the hair of the girl with the rainbow hair that Alex recognized from the pictures he'd seen last night as Sabine and then of the little blue haired boy who could only be Ezra.

"Good!" Ezra answers, giggling and grinning up at Zeb.

"Who's he?" Sabine asks bluntly, pointing up at Alex-clearly she wasn't one to mince words, and Alex could appreciate her directness even though he did realize that this did bring up a small problem. How exactly was Zeb going to introduce him? Alex had no idea what he even technically was to Zeb considering they'd only just met the night before. Beyond that, he didn't know if Zeb was out to his family, or if Kanan and Hera were the type of parents who wanted their kids exposed to homosexual relationships…

"This is Alex-he's a new friend of mine who I hope I'm going to get to know a lot better," Zeb says, relieving Alex's fears of having to come up with an explanation himself and at the same time melting him slightly inside as he sees the endearing smile on his face.

"Hi Uncle Zeb's friend!" Ezra says, grinning up at Alex and, to his great surprise, coming over to wrap his little arms around his legs in an unmistakable hug. "I'm Ezra!"

"I-It's very nice to meet you, Ezra," Alex answers, smiling in spite of himself at the outright affection the little boy was showing him. Most children unfortunately seemed afraid of or at least mildly intimidated by him, possibly due to his height and generally stern appearance-certainly none of them had ever _hugged_ him before. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't mildly enjoying it considering the fact that he did secretly wish to have a child or two of his own someday, and the fact that Zeb seemed to be pleased by the child's quick acceptance of him as well was an added bonus.

Sabine, on the other hand, was studying Alex with curiosity that bordered on intense scrutiny. Alex had no idea what she was thinking until suddenly she turns to Zeb and asks, "Is he your boyfriend, Uncle Zeb?"

Well, clearly the children were aware of the fact that their uncle had a romantic interest in men. Still, Alex hadn't been quite prepared for that question, and he finds himself stiffening slightly as Ezra looks up at him, wide-eyed, and asks eagerly, "You're dating Uncle Zeb? Are you two going to get married? Are you going to be my uncle too?"

"I… I don't… I-I don't really know…" Alex stammers out, feeling his cheeks burning. He knew that Ezra didn't know any better-he was too young to know what he'd just asked. Still, he couldn't bring himself to meet Zeb's eyes, too embarrassed and not sure how to properly answer those questions without making things even more uncomfortable.

"Sabine, Ezra, leave those two alone-go play on the swingset if you're bored." Alex looks up to give his guardian angel a grateful smile, not completely surprised to find that it was Hera.

"But I want to play with Uncle Zeb's new friend!" Ezra cries, giving Alex the cutest puppy dog eyes that he'd ever encountered. He was about to say that it was fine, that he didn't mind, but fortunately Hera was stern enough for both of them.

"Your Uncle Zeb wants to be able to spend to his new friend too," Hera tells Ezra, her tone gentle but firm. "If you ask nicely later, maybe you can play with him then."

"Promise?" Ezra asks eagerly, looking up at Alex with such a hopeful smile that he couldn't find it in him to resist.

"I promise," Alex answers, putting up his right hand as if taking an oath. "On my honor."

"Yay!" Ezra happily squeezes Alex's legs one last time before taking off after Sabine.

"Sorry about them," Zeb says, drawing his attention. He looked about as embarrassed as Alex felt. "Kids, y'know?"

"I don't mind," Alex reassures him. "They're adorable."

"They are," Zeb agrees, brightening slightly as he realizes that Alex hadn't been put off by the youngsters' behavior, before gesturing to a pair of lawn chairs on the patio. "Care to sit?"

"Sure," Alex answers with a smile, secretly glad that Zeb had offered. As much as he hoped that he was imagining the small pangs in his leg, he had the feeling that, blue as the sky was right now, there might be a storm coming, something which was always sure to make his old injury act up. It was better to rest his leg now in hopes that he'd be able to drive home later if a storm really did show up.

"Can I get you anything?" Zeb offers as Alex sits down. "Something to drink?"

"Not right now, but thank you," Alex answers, smiling as he watches Zeb sit down in the chair next to him. "You're quite the gentleman, aren't you?"

"I know I'm a bit rough around the edges, but I try," Zeb answers, rubbing the back of his neck and offering Alex a bashful grin.

"So, tell me," Alex says curiously, leaning towards him. "Have you always lived around here?"

"Well, ever since my family moved here when I was twelve," Zeb answers. "I was born in New Zealand."

"Really?" Alex asks-so he'd been right about the accent after all. "What was it like growing up there?"

"Well, I can imagine it was a bit different than growing up here," Zeb tells him with a wry smile.

"I wouldn't know what it was like growing up here either," Alex admits. "I was born in England-I moved here when I was fifteen."

"I thought you might have been," Zeb says with a grin. "I didn't want to guess and be wrong, though."

"I understand completely," Alex chuckles before happily settling down to discussing the ups and downs of having moved to a new country in the middle of their formative years.

As they talk, a few more guests slowly filter in to join the party. Alex recognized the three brothers he'd seen with Zeb at the bar the night before, and they came over to introduce themselves properly. He learned that the two he hadn't met the night before were named Gregor and Wolffe, and all three turned out to be very cheerful and friendly, if a bit more outgoing than most of the people Alex was used to meeting in his day to day life. The final party to arrive was a young woman named Ahsoka, who Alex guessed was in her twenties to early thirties. She didn't say much to him, but she was pleasant and made a point both of introducing herself to him and doing her part to make him feel welcome, and he was grateful to her for that.

The main meal took place around three in the afternoon. Alex's many offers to help with whatever was needed were quickly shot down (which he secretly had to admit to himself was probably a good idea since his leg was starting to act up more and more), so he spent the time leading up to the meal talking with Zeb. In spite of his constant reminders to himself to take things slow and not jump in too quickly, he had the feeling that he was falling for Zeb at a much quicker rate than was entirety wise. Still, he was enjoying himself too much to be able to truly care. Zeb was absolutely wonderful, as well as a perfect gentleman, and as they continued to talk over lunch Alex was amazed at just how much he had in common with him.

Once the plates were cleared, most of the adults seemed more than content to just relax and enjoy the shade. Ezra, however, had clearly not forgotten Alex's promise, and as soon as the remaining dishes and food were put away, he races over to the older man and eagerly tugs on his hand.

"Can you come play with us now?" he asks hopefully.

"Ezra," Kanan says warningly, clearly worried that Ezra was interrupting Alex and Zeb's date. But Alex smiles as he answers,

"I'd love to come play with you. I can't say I'll be very good at your games, but I'll try my best."

"We're drawing!" Ezra answers, pointing to a spot of concrete on the patio where he and Sabine were coloring with chalk. "You can't be bad at that!"

"Well, I'll give it my best," Alex chuckles as he allows Ezra to lead him over.

"I'll come too," Zeb offers, smiling as he squats down next to the kids on the concrete. "What are you two working on?"

"I'm drawing kitties!" Ezra points proudly to where, indeed, he had drawn about six different cats in a rainbow of colors and sizes.

"They look wonderful," Alex tells him, finding the little sketches adorable.

"I'm drawing you two!" Sabine says to draw his attention, grinning as she points to her own work. As he looks over to view it, Alex expects to find stick figures, or maybe something slightly more fleshed out. He was completely unprepared to see just how accurate of a drawing Sabine had made.

"T-That's incredible!" he gasps.

"She's quite the artist," Zeb says with a proud smile. "None of us will be surprised if she goes professional someday."

"I'm going to have my art up in museums, just like all the famous artists!" Sabine says firmly, and something about the fire in her eyes made Alex believe that she just might be able to make that possible someday.

"What are you going to draw, Mr. Alex?" Ezra asks, lightly tugging on his sleeve.

"Well…" Alex tries to think of something that he could actually draw that he wouldn't make a fool of himself with when suddenly he feels something wet hit the top of his head and looks up to see that grey clouds were beginning to gather overhead.

"Rain's coming!" Hera calls, also noticing the change in weather. "Ezra, Sabine, inside please!"

She was just in time-just as the two kids stand up to head for the door, the sky opens up and starts pounding down on the Earth, allowing the children just enough time to scamper to safety. Alex wasn't quite so lucky. His leg decides to lock up at the absolute worst possible time, and, before he can move to safety, he finds himself absolutely drenched.


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you okay?" Zeb cries, hurrying over to help him towards the door.

"Fine," Alex answers through gritted teeth, praying that his leg would behave long enough for him to get inside and that it would start working again after a bit of resting. If not, he wasn't sure how he was going to get home that night.

"Here." Ahsoka hands him a towel when he finally makes it to the door with Zeb's help (mercifully Zeb wasn't asking too many questions, which he was infinitely grateful for.)

"Thank you." Alex nods his thanks as he accepts the towel, starting to dry himself off.

"You really took a drenching, didn't you?" Zeb says, grabbing a second towel and helping to dry him off. It was all Alex could do not to swallow too noticeably as the other man starts rubbing his legs down, and he couldn't help but wonder if he was doing this on purpose or if he even realized what he was doing.

"I'm afraid you'll catch a cold staying in those wet clothes," Hera says, frowning as she looks Alex over. "Kanan might have something you can borrow…"

"Kanan's a bit shorter than him," Zeb quickly puts in. "Mine might fit him a bit better."

He turns to Kallus. "I live just across the way if you don't mind a short walk."

Alex was tempted to say that, as much as he appreciated Zeb's offer, Kanan's clothes actually might fit him a bit better. But then he saw the hopeful expression on Zeb's face and realized that Zeb was inviting him to come alone with him to his house and suddenly he was very much okay with risking going out in the rain again.

"I don't mind at all," he says, and the expression on Zeb's face was more than enough to make up for the fact that he was quite possibly going to end up drenched again.

"All right," Hera says, seeming to catch the undercurrent of their conversation and visibly fighting back a smirk as she opens the coat closet to pull out an umbrella. "At least take this."

"Thanks, Hera." Zeb accepts it and then, carefully opening the front door, opens the umbrella just outside before stepping out underneath it.

"You coming?" he asks, grinning as he gestures for Alex to join him.

"Absolutely," Alex answers, stepping out under the umbrella as well.

"You're going?" Ezra cries, running up to the door with a heartbroken look on his face.

"Just for a little while," Zeb promises. "We'll try to come back if the rain stops, okay?"

"Okay…" Ezra agrees, not looking entirely happy but nodding as he returns to the rest of his family.

"I almost feel bad leaving him like that," Alex admits as he and Zeb make their way across the street.

"Don't," Zeb reassures him. "Nothing keeps him down for long, and he's got three fawning uncles and an aunt over there with him, he won't even miss us."

"I suppose so," Alex agrees, doing his best to quell his guilt, which he succeeded in doing fairly well once the two of them reach the landing of the house across the street and Zeb unlocks the door.

"It's not much," Zeb says a bit hesitantly as he flips the light on. "I live by myself, and I'm not much of a decorator… I tried to get it cleaned up this morning in case you wanted to… Well… You know."

"It's charming," Alex reassures him, perhaps a bit less than truthfully. The interior of the house was a bit empty and stark, and the mismatched Goodwill furniture clearly had been picked more for comfort and value than for style. Still, the fact that Zeb had made a point of cleaning the place up in hopes that he would be coming over meant a good deal to him, and he would take that over the most fastidiously decorated home in the city.

As he walks a bit further into the living room while Zeb sets the umbrella to dry in the front entryway, he catches sight of himself in a small mirror on the wall, and his heart sinks a bit. His usually meticulously combed and gelled hair had melted in the rain, now hanging loosely around his face.

"I look like such a mess…" he quietly groans to himself, hopelessly trying to fix his hair back into some semblance of order.

"Leave it," Zeb says softly, surprising him by coming up behind him and putting his hands on his shoulders. "I think it looks good that way."

"Do you now?" Alex asks, smirking slightly as he turns around and trying to not let on that he was both excited and a bit nervous about where this seemed to be going. It had been so long since he'd done anything like this, what if he was a complete disappointment?

"Absolutely," Zeb breathes huskily in his ear, and Alex feels his heart leap up into his throat as he finds himself being pushed up against the wall, Zeb's lips against his neck, sending fire through his veins. He lets out a soft moan, knowing that he was being far too eager but not caring as Zeb moves his legs apart, pressing himself in between them, making Alex want him in a way he hadn't wanted anyone in quite some time-

"Aaah!" Alex lets out a cry of pain as suddenly a jolt of pain slices through his leg, and he surely would have crumpled to the floor if Zeb hadn't been there.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Zeb asks, all traces of the romantic mood from only moment before gone as he takes Alex by the shoulders. "Karabast, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed that you wanted-"

"N-No," Alex manages to get out between gritted teeth, trying to fight back the tears of pain that were pricking at his eyes. "N-Not you… It-It's my damn l-leg…"

Zeb's eyes go wide with understanding. "Why didn't you tell me?" he cries, and, before Alex can even react, scoops him up into his arms and starts carrying him over to the slightly battered couch in the middle of the living room.

"You stay there," Zeb says firmly when Alex starts to try to stand up after he sets him down. "I'll be right back."

Alex sinks into the couch, silently cursing himself. How could he have been so stupid? Zeb clearly wouldn't want someone like him who couldn't even make it through foreplay without-

"Here." Zeb returns, and, to Alex's great astonishment, presses a glass of water into one hand and two small oblong pills into the other one. "They're just generic over the counter stuff, but they should hopefully help a little bit."

"T-Thank you…" Still feeling like the worst date in the world, Alex carefully swallows down the painkillers as Zeb gingerly sits down on the edge of the couch.

"How are you feeling?" Zeb asks.

"A little better now that I'm off of it," Alex answers. "Usually it's fine but sometimes when it gets cold or there's rain like this…"

"Old battle injuries have a habit of doing that," Zeb says with an understanding smile that makes Alex relax just the tiniest bit. "Trust me, I've got lots of friends who have the same type of problems. I should have remembered what you said last night about your leg…"

"I don't expect you to remember everything that I said to you last night," Alex reassures him.

"I still feel terrible for not realizing you were in pain," Zeb says regretfully, his shoulders sinking.

"Don't." Alex says firmly. "I wasn't hurting that much until it suddenly started acting up so it's not your fault."

"All the same…" Zeb hesitates for a moment before quietly offering, "I could try to massage the muscles out for you, if you want to see if that helps at all. Most people people say I'm pretty good at it, and if it might make you feel a bit better…"

Alex considers the offer. This wasn't exactly how he had planned today going, but, even if it didn't help much, Zeb massaging his leg didn't sound half bad.

"All right," he finally agrees. "Let's try it."

Zeb smiles at him, looking relieved, before glancing down at Alex's sodden clothes and observing, "It might help if we got you out of those first…"

"I suppose you're right," Alex agrees with a small laugh. "But I'm probably not going to be moving anywhere anytime soon, so if you wouldn't mind helping me..."

"Wouldn't mind at all," Zeb answers with a grin.

"You understand I don't usually let men take my pants off on the first date," Alex says, pretending to be stern a few minutes later as Zeb was helping him out of his soaked trousers.

"Of course," Zeb answers with an amused grin. "I promise I don't think any less of you for this."

"Good." Alex smiles up at him before shivering slightly as he's exposed to the cold air-even in his shorts it was a bit chilly.

"Here, let me go turn up the heat for you," Zeb says, quickly hurrying to adjust the thermostat before returning to the couch, kneeling down beside it. "Now, which leg is it that's bothering you?"

"My right one," Alex answers, gesturing wryly to it.

"All right then." Zeb carefully reaches out towards it, intoning, "It might hurt a bit at first…"

He was right-the first few moments were agony and it's all Alex can do not to cry out. But then slowly but surely the pain recedes and, to his great surprise, it not only stops hurting but starts feeling better than it had in-well, longer than he could remember.

"How's that?" Zeb asks as he continues his work.

"Heavenly," Alex answers blissfully, relaxing into the couch and feeling like he could just stay here for forever and be perfectly content.

"I'm glad it's helping," Zeb chuckles gruffly, and Alex lets his eyes slide shut, unable to keep a smile off of his face. This was absolutely _wonderful_. Zeb was wonderful. He couldn't believe just how amazing a man he had only met the night before was making him feel.

"I think that should do it," Zeb says a while later, and while Alex hated the idea of making this stop he was too blissed out to argue.

"Feeling any better?" Zeb asks, producing a blanket from Alex had no idea where and starting to tuck it in around him.

"Much," Alex manages to get out. He was warm and finally dry again, and his leg wasn't hurting anymore. What else could he ask for?

"Looks like it's stopped raining," Zeb observes, glancing out the window. "Still, I don't think you're in any condition to go back over there-you should probably stay off that leg for the rest of the night just to be safe."

"Probably," Alex starts to agree, only to realize what exactly Zeb had said. "Wait, the rest of the night?"

"I don't like the idea of you driving home if there's any chance of your leg seizing up again while you're driving-I don't want you getting into an accident," Zeb says firmly.

"So you're suggesting that I spend the night here?" Alex asks.

"Well… If you wouldn't feel uncomfortable with it," Zeb answers with a sheepish smile. "You could have the bed, of course! I'll sleep out here on the couch."

"I'm not taking your bed from you!" Alex protests.

"Well I'm not letting you sleep on the couch when your leg is injured!"

"...I guess we could share the bed…" Alex says after a moment.

A smile crosses Zeb's face. "I wouldn't say no to that," he agrees before quickly adding, "But don't worry, we won't be doing anything besides sleeping. I'm not about to let you re-injure your leg!"

"Fair enough," Alex agrees, a bit disappointed but sadly knowing that Zeb had a point.

"That's settled, then." Zeb nods, looking relieved, before asking, "Is there anything that I can get you? I don't know if it's warm enough in here for you yet, I could make you something hot to drink."

"Tea would be lovely," Alex admits.

"Oh…" A concerned look crosses Zeb's face. "I usually only keep coffee here, and cocoa if the kids are staying the night…"

"If that's all you have, that's not a problem-" Alex starts to reassure him, but Zeb suddenly cuts him off, looking relieved.

"Hera! She always has a whole bunch of tea, I'm sure she wouldn't mind lending us some! I'll run over and get some for you."

"Zeb, you don't have to-!"

"It's just across the street, it's not a problem! What kind of tea do you like?"

"Well… Earl grey would be wonderful if she has it," Alex finally answers.

"That's what I'll get, then." Zeb stands and, to Alex's surprise but not displeasure, gently brushes the back of his hand against his cheek before heading towards the door.

When Zeb was gone ten minutes, Alex wasn't terribly worried. When he was gone twenty minutes Alex started to feel a little antsy. By thirty minutes, he had to start wondering if something terrible had happened-he'd only just gone across the street, right?

Finally, just as Alex was debating trying to go after him, the front door opens and Zeb returns, laden down with not only a large metal canteen but a large assortment of tupperware containers filled with food.

"What happened to you?" Alex asks, sitting up in surprise.

"I always forget that there is no such thing as a short visit over there," Zeb sighs as he dumps his load on the coffee table. "First Hera insisted that she brew the tea herself because she said I wouldn't make it right. Then Kanan insisted on sending food over because he said I never have any real food in my kitchen-which, to be fair, he's right about, but he didn't have to say it! And then both Ezra and Sabine wanted to send over pictures that they drew you to help you feel better…"

Alex smiles as he spots the two pictures that were in the midst of the jumbled up pile.

"Well, even though it took you awhile to get back, it was still very kind of them," he says as he picks up the crayon drawings to look at them closer. "It sounds like you have a very caring family of friends."

"They're not just mine anymore," Zeb says wryly. "You think they did all this for me? Naw. I think it's only fair warning to tell you they've officially decided to adopt you, and there's no getting out of it."

"R-Really?" Alex was both shocked and, deep down, touched. He rarely spoke with his own family, and he didn't have friends at work so much as colleagues that he tolerated. Since meeting him, Zeb had seemed like his one lucky strike. The idea that an entire family wanted him…

"Adopting strays is something we do around here," Zeb chuckles, lightly ruffling his hair as he sits down on the edge of the couch. "Now, let's get that tea poured for you before it goes cold, and then we might as well enjoy the food that they sent over with me. Do you want me to put on a movie or something while we eat?"

"That sounds perfect," Alex answers, secretly feeling, for the first time in longer than he could remember, that he was home. He had no idea what the future held for him and Zeb, but somehow, as much as he didn't believe in luck or superstition, he had a small, persistent feeling that somehow this was the start of something that would last the rest of his life. And as he and Zeb laughed and teased their way through a Star Wars movie marathon, and much later as he sleepily let Zeb carry him to bed, he realizes that the idea of this lasting forever wasn't something that he minded at all.

"Aah, Agent Kallus, good morning."

Alex looks up from his desk on Monday morning to see Captain Thrawn standing over him again.

"Good morning, Captain," Alex answers evenly, taking a long sip of strong tea from his mug to try to stifle a yawn resulting from his complete lack of sleep the night before-not that he regretted a single minute of it, but he wasn't about to let Thrawn know anything about that.

"How was your weekend?" Thrawn asks, clearly fishing for information about how Friday night had gone.

"Uneventful," Alex replies soberly.

"Really?" Alex couldn't help but think that Thrawn looked vaguely disappointed. "Nothing at all to report?"

"Not that I can think of, sir," Alex responds dryly.

"I see." Thrawn sighs. "Well, it was worth a try. I suppose you have bested me, Alexsandr, and I am a man of my word."

"Thank you, Captain." Alex nods, accepting his words. But just as Thrawn was starting to walk away, he calls after him. "Oh, Captain?"

"Yes?" Thrawn answers, turning back to face him.

"I believe I will take you advice about leaving on time this Friday night-and maybe some other nights during the following weeks too," Alex answers, fighting back a smile.

"Really?" Thrawn's eyes widen almost imperceptibly as he processes his words. "Does this mean that you actually enjoyed yourself and you're actually going back?"

"No, sir," Alex answers before finally allowing himself a small smile. "I have a date."

Thrawn stops stock still, shock registering on his face, before suddenly smiling. He didn't say anything, just nodding before turning and heading back towards his office, the unspoken, "I told you so" hanging in the air between them. Not that Alex minded. And beside, he had more important things to focus on, like the work he needed to do to ensure that he was able to leave on time this Friday.

He starts to open a case to review on his computer, but before actually opening it he pauses to look down at the small picture of Zeb that he'd printed out and taped to the edge of his computer. Seeing that handsome, smiling face was all the motivation that Alex needed, and he opens the file to get to back to work.

~Fin


End file.
